Why a Generic Teacher Job Description Triggers an H-1B RFE

The petition went in with a signed Form I-129, a certified labor condition application and a one-paragraph offer letter: “Science Teacher, bachelor’s degree and state license required.” A few months later the district receives a Request for Evidence. USCIS says the district has not shown that the position is a specialty occupation, and it asks for more on the duties, the degree, the license and the teacher’s qualifications. The superintendent’s first reaction is reasonable: every teacher in the building has a degree, so how can teaching not qualify?

Here is the short answer. USCIS does approve H-1B petitions for teachers, including in our own practice. But it does not presume that a teaching job qualifies. The petition has to prove four things, and a generic job description proves none of them: that the job requires a degree in a specific field directly related to what the teacher will teach, that the occupation code on the labor condition application matches the actual job, that the teacher’s own degree is in that field, and that the teacher holds the state license for that grade level and subject. This page explains each of those, shows how the Administrative Appeals Office has treated petitions that missed them, and ends with what a district should put in the file before it files, or in its response if the RFE has already arrived.

This page states the law as of September 27, 2026. For the wider picture of hiring and keeping a foreign teacher, including cap exemption, the J-1 timeline and what the district must pay, start with our guide to hiring and keeping foreign teachers in a rural school district.

What does “specialty occupation” mean for a teaching job?

It means the job requires a bachelor’s degree in a specific field that is directly related to the duties, not just any bachelor’s degree. The statute, INA 214(i)(1), defines a specialty occupation as one that requires “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge” and a bachelor’s or higher degree “in the specific specialty (or its equivalent) as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States.”

The regulation, 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(ii), was rewritten in the 2024 H-1B modernization rule, which took effect January 17, 2025. The definition’s long-standing list of fields includes education. The 2024 rule added three sentences that decide most teacher cases:

• “A position is not a specialty occupation if attainment of a general degree, without further specialization, is sufficient to qualify for the position.”
• “A position may allow for a range of qualifying degree fields, provided that each of those fields is directly related to the duties of the position.”
• “Directly related means there is a logical connection between the required degree, or its equivalent, and the duties of the position.”

Districts are sometimes told that teachers are automatically “professionals” in immigration law, and that is true in a different part of the statute. INA 101(a)(32) lists “teachers in elementary or secondary schools” among the professions, a definition that matters mainly for employment-based green cards. The Administrative Appeals Office has pointed out that this does not settle the H-1B question: an occupation listed as a profession “would not necessarily qualify as a specialty occupation unless it met the definition of that term” in INA 214(i)(1) (AAO non-precedent decision on a computer systems position, Jan. 16, 2020, n.9). The H-1B test asks about the specific degree, and that is where a generic petition runs into trouble.

Why isn’t “bachelor’s degree required” enough?

Because the government’s own occupational handbook says a teaching degree “may be in education,” and a degree that could be in anything related to education reads as general unless the petition connects it to the subject taught. Under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A), the district must meet at least one of four criteria. Put in plain terms, a degree in a directly related specific specialty must normally be required (1) for the occupation in general, (2) for parallel positions at similar employers, (3) by this employer for this position, or (4) because the duties are so specialized or complex that such a degree is normally needed. The regulation adds that “normally” means usual or typical, and that “Normally does not mean always.”

Most teacher petitions rely on the first criterion and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. Many employers believe that citing the handbook ends the inquiry. It does not, and the handbook’s own wording shows why. The handbook entry for high school teachers (page dated August 27, 2026) says that all states require public high school teachers to have at least a bachelor’s degree, “which may be in education,” and that many states require a major in a content area such as mathematics or science. The entry for kindergarten and elementary teachers says public elementary teachers “typically need a bachelor’s degree in elementary education,” and that people with a degree in another subject can still qualify by completing a teacher education program.

Read by an officer who has to apply the “general degree” sentence, that handbook text supports two opposite conclusions. For a secondary position, it can support a finding that the job requires a degree in the subject taught, or in education with a concentration in that subject. It can also support a finding that any degree plus a certification program will do. Which reading prevails depends almost entirely on what the district’s own documents say about the position.

Is a degree in “Education” a general degree?

Not automatically, but “Education” alone is a weak way to describe what a secondary science or math position requires. Education appears in the regulation’s list of fields in which a specialty occupation can exist, but that list does not make any particular degree qualifying. What matters is whether the stated degree has a logical connection to the duties.

• Elementary positions. A bachelor’s in elementary education is the specialty the handbook describes, and its connection to teaching reading, math and science to young children is direct. But the handbook also says people with a degree in another subject can qualify through a teacher education program, so the petition should document that the district and the state actually require an elementary education degree or its equivalent preparation.
• Secondary positions in a subject. A high school chemistry teacher’s job requires knowledge of chemistry. The strongest statement of the requirement is a range of fields, each directly related: for example, a bachelor’s in chemistry or a closely related physical science, or a bachelor’s in secondary education with a major, concentration or endorsement in chemistry or physical science. That wording is permitted by the regulation’s range-of-fields sentence, and it matches how most state licensing rules actually work.
• Special education and career and technical education. These are separate occupations with their own requirements. A position that is mostly special education should be described and coded as special education, not as general classroom teaching.

What draws the RFE is a job description or offer letter that says “bachelor’s degree in education or related field,” or just “bachelor’s degree and valid teaching license,” for a position that is really a secondary science or math job. The district knows it would never hire someone with a physical education degree to teach chemistry. The petition has to say that.

What should a teacher job description say to support an H-1B?

It should describe the specific job the teacher will do, in the district’s own words, with enough detail that the degree requirement follows from the duties. Large employers keep formal position descriptions. Small districts often have a posted vacancy notice and a salary schedule, and that is not enough. A description that holds up usually covers:

1. The title and level: “Secondary Science Teacher, grades 9-12,” not “Teacher.”
2. The courses taught, by name (for example, biology, chemistry and physical science), and the share of the week each takes.
3. The substantive duties: designing lessons and laboratory work aligned to the state’s content standards, building and grading assessments, adapting instruction for students with individualized education programs, running laboratory safety, and similar work stated in terms of the subject, not generic classroom management.
4. The minimum requirement, stated as a range of directly related fields, as in the chemistry example above.
5. The license: the state license class and the endorsement (subject and grade range) the position requires.
6. The district’s own practice: a statement, backed by records, of what degrees the district has required of the people who held this position before. That is the evidence for the third criterion.
7. The employment terms: the contract year, full-time status and the salary schedule placement.

Two supporting items make the first and second criteria stronger. One is the state’s licensing rule for the endorsement, showing what content preparation it requires. The other is a handful of vacancy postings from comparable districts showing the same content-specific requirement. The second criterion asks about “parallel positions among similar organizations,” so choose districts of similar size and postings for the same subject and grade level.

One caution: write the description from the job as it really is. USCIS can compare the petition with the district’s website, its posted vacancy and what the teacher says at a consular interview. A description drafted to sound impressive, rather than accurate, creates a second problem worse than the first.

Why does the occupation code on the labor condition application matter?

Because USCIS checks that the labor condition application matches the job in the petition, and a mismatched code can sink a petition even when the job qualifies. Before filing, the district obtains a certified labor condition application from the Department of Labor that names an occupation code. Under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(i)(B)(1)(ii), the Labor Department’s certification is not a finding that the job is a specialty occupation, and USCIS will determine whether the application “properly corresponds with the petition.”

The standard occupational codes for school teachers are specific. Secondary teachers are 25-2031, “Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education”; middle school teachers are 25-2022; elementary teachers are 25-2021; and special education teachers have their own codes by level (for example, 25-2058 for secondary). In a December 2022 decision, the AAO dismissed an appeal because the petitioner used the elementary school teacher code for a position whose duties more closely matched a different occupation; it held that it could not analyze the specialty occupation question under the wrong code (AAO non-precedent decision, Dec. 21, 2022). That petitioner was a music school, and much of the job looked like self-enrichment teaching, an occupation that does not normally require a degree in a specific field. The reasoning applies to any mixed position. In a small district, one teacher may cover grades 7 through 12, or split time between classroom teaching and special education. Choose the code that most closely matches the position as a whole, describe the duties the same way in every document, and if the job combines occupations, confirm which code and wage apply before filing.

Does the teacher’s own degree have to match?

Generally, yes. The job must require a specific degree, and the teacher must have that degree, its equivalent, or a full state license that authorizes the teacher to practice. INA 214(i)(2) and 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(C) allow the teacher to qualify through a U.S. degree in the specialty, a foreign degree that is equivalent, an unrestricted state license that authorizes the teacher to fully practice the occupation, or a combination of education, training and experience that meets strict evaluation rules.

For teachers educated abroad, the credential evaluation is the key document. It should state equivalence to a U.S. bachelor’s degree in the field the job requires, and it should be supported by the diploma and full transcripts. An evaluation that says “equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree” without naming the field, or that names a different field, invites the same RFE from the other direction.

The stakes do not end at approval. In a June 2026 decision, USCIS had approved a high school teacher petition filed by a public charter school, then revoked it after the teacher’s visa interview abroad. On appeal, the AAO found that the only credential the evaluation equated to a U.S. bachelor’s degree was in sociology, not the specialty, and that the evaluation itself said verification of that credential was “in progress.” The school relied instead on experience equivalency, supported only by ordinary employment letters that the AAO held were not letters from “recognized authorities,” and the record had no diploma or transcripts for the credential. The AAO dismissed the appeal (AAO non-precedent decision, June 16, 2026). A weak qualification file that slips through at approval can still surface at the consulate.

How specific does the license evidence have to be?

Specific to the grade level and subject the teacher will actually teach. Public school teaching requires a state license, and under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(v)(A) the teacher generally must hold it before USCIS approves the petition. There are narrow exceptions for temporary licenses and supervised practice, and a separate one-year approval when the only obstacle is a missing Social Security number, work authorization or a similar technical requirement; a temporary license also shortens the approval under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(v)(E). The pillar guide explains how a temporary or pending license can shorten the approval. The job description problem is a different one: a petition that does not say what grade or subject the teacher will teach cannot show that the license matches.

A March 2025 AAO decision shows the pattern. The petitioner offered a teaching position in Georgia and argued that the one-year rule for workers who cannot get a license only because they lack a Social Security number or U.S. work authorization applied. The AAO noted that Georgia certifies teachers by grade or age group and by subject, but “the petition does not indicate at what grade level or age the Beneficiary would teach for the state.” The appeal did not say what subject area either. The petitioner had also not shown, with evidence from the state, what Georgia’s requirements were or that the teacher met them. The AAO dismissed the appeal (AAO non-precedent decision, Mar. 27, 2025).

For a district, that means the file should contain the license itself (or the licensing office’s written confirmation of the only remaining obstacle), the endorsement it carries, and a job description whose grade range and subjects fall inside that endorsement.

We already received the RFE. What should the district do now?

Answer every point with documents, in one complete response, before the deadline, and do not change the job to fit the objection. The rules are strict:

• The deadline is fixed. Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8)(iv), the RFE states the response deadline, the maximum is twelve weeks, and “Additional time to respond to a request for evidence or notice of intent to deny may not be granted.”
• Everything goes in at once. Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(11), “All requested materials must be submitted together at one time.” A partial response is treated as a request for a decision on the record.
• The job cannot be rewritten. A petitioner must be eligible when it files. The decision that states the rule concludes that, therefore, “a petitioner may not make material changes to a petition that has already been filed in an effort to make an apparently deficient petition conform to Service requirements” (Matter of Izummi, 22 I&N Dec. 169, 175 (Assoc. Comm’r 1998)). A response can explain and document the position that was always there. It cannot turn “bachelor’s degree required” into “bachelor’s degree in chemistry required” if the district’s own records show it would have hired from any field.

That last point is why the timing of the job description matters so much. If the district’s real practice has always been to require a content degree or a content endorsement, the response can prove it with past postings, board policy, the state licensing rule and the credentials of the teachers who held the job. If the paperwork has never said so, the response has less to work with. A strong response usually includes a detailed letter from the superintendent describing the position as it has actually existed, the evidence for whichever of the four criteria the district can meet, a corrected or confirmed occupation code analysis, the teacher’s credential evaluation and transcripts, and the license documents. We explain the general mechanics on our page about responding to a USCIS Request for Evidence.

How can a district reduce the risk of an RFE?

Treat the job description as evidence, and assemble the file before the petition is signed. In the district petitions we have handled, the pattern is the same: the answers to USCIS’s questions were already in the district’s own records. What was missing was time to gather them, because a teacher petition is often filed against the teacher’s own deadline rather than on the district’s schedule. Starting early is the best protection. A complete file lowers the risk; it does not guarantee approval or rule out an RFE. A complete specialty occupation file for a teacher petition usually contains:

1. A detailed position description with grade range, courses, duties and a directly related degree requirement, signed by the superintendent.
2. The state licensing rule for the endorsement the position requires, and the teacher’s license or the licensing office’s written statement about it.
3. The district’s hiring history for the position: past postings and the degrees of prior holders.
4. Comparable postings from similar districts for the same subject and level.
5. The labor condition application under the occupation code that matches the majority of the duties, at the right wage level.
6. The teacher’s diploma, transcripts and a credential evaluation that names the field.
7. A cover letter that ties the evidence to the specific regulatory criteria rather than asserting that teachers always qualify.

Specialty occupation is one of several questions in a district petition. Whether the district must enter the lottery at all is covered in is our school district exempt from the H-1B cap?, and the general H-1B framework is on our H-1B visa page. A teacher reading this from the other side should also see after your J-1 year.

Immigration Law of Montana, P.C. works with school districts in Montana and across the region we serve, including North Dakota and Wyoming, on teacher petitions and on RFE responses. We can review a district’s position description, occupation code and the teacher’s credentials before filing, or assess an RFE and what the record can support. A strategy consultation is the place to start. It is a paid consultation, and it is designed to produce a plan. You can reach us through our contact page.